How to let your neighbours know you're a greenie?

Over the last 12 months there has been a lot of talk about no-dig gardens. What trips me up is the need to source all the materials to make a no-dig garden. No-dig gardens just seem to have so many ingredients, when you can just call up a compost or landscaping place and they will dump a whole bunch of 'soil' at your front door. Convenience strikes again!

I haven't given up completely on the idea of creating my 'perfect' veggie patch through a no dig process and due to a number of recent random events in my life I am starting to think it might even be possible. However, the no-dig garden still needs all of those ingredients and perhaps the biggest sticking point is the current lack of compost in my life! Now compost doesn't just appear over night, you have to work at it, love it, feed it......and maybe, just maybe you might be rewarded with some 'black gold'.

When we moved in to our new place, I did rush out and buy the biggest and nastiest black compost bin I could find at our local green & red hardware store. I put it in a place I thought would be accessible and convenient, with the idea that I would be making buckets loads of compost by the time I was thinking about building the veggie patches. Well, 12 months on and I have decided that the bin is in the completely wrong spot and its location doesn't allow me to turn the ingredients to aerate them. Also, I think perhaps the type of bin I bought (a flat pack square one) is probably not strong enough to take a good turning.

Anyway, I will continue with my bin choice, but I have moved it and its current ingredients to a new location. The move brought ingredient aeration and some realisation that I don't have enough green materials (nitrogen) going into my compost bin (because the worm farm is hogging them). So this is where my neighbours find out that they have a hippie in their midst!

With the amount of green waste being utilised in my worm farm and the lack of established veggie patch to "feed" the compost bin, where am I to get this green material from? Work colleagues seem to be a little "special" when it comes to separating suitable lunch scraps and don't actually seem to have that many (or least not placed appropriately into the designated bucket in the lunch room).

So, where am I to get this stuff from? My greenie and recycling streak re-surfaced and I came up with a grand plan. Through a little initiative of mine, I am hoping my neighbours will be the source of all my required 'green materials'. How is this going to happen? Well, I have put together a flyer, that I have so far dropped into 50% of my street's letterboxes, requesting my neighbours be so kind as to drop their kitchen green scraps into a "bin" that I have conveniently placed at my front gate.

 (Source: World Changing Seattle)

I wonder if this plan will be successful? Once the rain eases I will do the rest of my neighbourhood letterbox drop and see whether this strategy reaps any rewards! Pin It

What will your container do in its second life?

It is time to re-think containers! Most of the products we buy from the supermarket come in some sort of container and many of us just throw them out or put them in our recycle bin to be turned into another product. Well, now it is time to think what you can do with these containers around the home.

In our house I religiously wash and save jars. I have a nice stash in the top of the cupboard and utilise these for all sorts of things around the house, but mostly for holding basil pesto that I make from basil I grow in my garden. Another container that has many uses in my household is a strong plastic type container that we get yoghurt in. My partner is particularly good at utilising these!

(Source: Georges Yoghurt)

We store many of our bulk food items in these containers, including sugars, biscuits, cereals, bird seed and much more. And these types of containers are sturdy enough to last a long time and have great lids that seal well so little black ants aren't attracted to their contents. 

What is great about re-using these containers at home, is that there is no additional transportation costs and no more electricity or water used to make these products into something new and none of these costs (financial and environmental) associated with buying a new container to store the products that I am currently using these "second hand" containers for.

Other uses for these containers might include:

• storing elastic bands, sewing cotton;
• storing kids' pencils, felt tip pens, crayons;
• storing all types of food products;
• storing or freezing leftovers and excess garden produce.

Why don't you leave a comment and tell us all what you use your left-over containers for.


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One of my favourite products

Wandering around my house today I noticed a product in my household that I get completely frustrated about if we buy an alternate product. What product is it you may ask? Well, it is a specific brand and type of toilet paper. That's right, toilet paper!

We buy double length 100% recycled "post-consumer waste paper" toilet paper. This isn't plush, extra soft, printed, excessively chlorine-bleached toilet paper which many people indulge in, but rather a recycled product. When you come to my house you may experience this product and I think you might be surprised that it isn't scratchy like some people believe recycled toilet paper is, it isn't unattractive and is certainly practical and appropriate for its use.

The product (6 rolls of toilet paper) is branded as "Safe", endorsed by Planet Ark (produced by Encore Tissue) and made in Australia. The best part about the product I buy is that the amount of toilet paper on each roll is the equivalent to two standard rolls. These rolls still fit my standard toilet roll holder and means that I save on the number of toilet roll tubes (less waste), the amount of packaging used to cover the entire product is reduced and the double length means you have to need to change the toilet roll less. The only unfortunate thing about the product is that it is packaged in a plastic material, where surely a paper wrapping would suit just as well and could then be recycled.

The product is also rated as an ethical choice by the Ethical Consumer Guide.

What a great product and it means that all the recycling of paper and cardboard products as part of my domestic waste collection, might eventually come back to me in the form of toilet paper later in their life cycles.

Give it a try, you might be surprised. Pin It

Freecycle

Freecycle aims to reduce the amount of usable/re-usable items going into landfill. Groups are locally based, with volunteer moderators. Members use a bulletin board to 'advertise' things that they would otherwise be throwing out and might be of use to other people. Almost anything can be listed, you just need to want to give it away and it can be in any condition. The idea is not to sell these things or seek a fee but to give the items away.

It is amazing what people give away. Recently, I managed to get a lot of garden plants for my friends in Brisbane that were impacted by the floods. Other things that have taken my fancy, but I wasn't successful in getting (first in first served type arrangement generally) have included juicers, pots, water tanks, piano, dolls, toys, puzzles, etc, etc. I have however, managed to get a lot of crafty items for my local day care. Not only have I managed to get some interesting items, I have also managed to get rid of a lot of the clutter around the house without being concerned about whether it will be utilised by the local community group or just chucking things into the bin that someone else might be able to use.

If you're interested you sign up to your local network (see if there is a Freecyle group near you) and then choose whether you want to receive individual emails or daily digests. Each group has different members, different interests and different items available.

Another way to reduce your environmental footprint.

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Saved a fence!

You just never know where you will find something useful in life! Wandering through my local township I  did a double take when a pile of fencing caught my eye. There just lying next to a shed was a large pile of dismantled white picket fence. This had been taken down from a courtyard area behind a shop in the main street. There were some landscapers working on what was clearly a new fence and I thought "opportunity"!

Quick conversations between myself and the landscapers and it was established the fence was going straight to the tip. Can I have it, was my obvious next question? Clear it with the boss and its yours. Fabulous. After an early morning trip back to the location, this time with a ute, I am now the proud owner of a pile of old picket fence segments and now slowly dismantling them into single palings and supporting beams.

Why some of you might ask? Well in the near future I will be moving house and I plan on acquiring some chickens. I thought the palings would make a good edge for my chicken run or at least allow the chickens to have an outdoors fenced area separate from my two dogs.

Felt proud of myself for salvaging this fence and re-using something that would have otherwise ended up at the tip, potentially as compost. It certainly would have had a much shorter life-cycle than it was capable of having! All sorts of things can make a difference to the planet and this is just one of them. Reduce, reuse, recycle! Pin It

Recycling...do you do it?

If you haven't heard already it is very important to recycle anything you can. The slogan "reduce, recycle, reuse" is a great mantra to follow in everyday life. I have however, sometimes got on my high horse and announced that it is no good recycling if you're not going to choose products that have recycled content. But I have come to the realisation that isn't necessarily true, as there is the need for more than one plastic bottle that I might recycle to produce a recycled content product that I might like to buy in the future. Thus, I need everyone to recycle!

Furthermore, it is important to choose products with recycled content, as this follows the "reduce" part of the slogan. This is because you will be using less primary resources and creating a more 'closed' system rather than continuing mine or gather intact primary resources. It also goes someway to also committing to the "reuse" principle because you are re-utilising a resource just in a different form. Such re-use does however still require more resources in the product's transformation process so in fact it is better if possible to reuse things in their original state. 

So, if you're going to be recycling your toilet rolls then best to buy recycled content toilet paper. It isn't as scratchy and nasty as it once was or perceived to be and does the job just as well! Alternatively, if you're ultra keen just use the toilet roll instead of toilet paper.       :)   Peronsally, I'm just at the recycled content toilet paper. 

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Don't tie up your garbage bags!

A friend of mine has currently been spending a lot of time at the refuse transfer stations around Brisbane for reasons that remain a little foggy. But despite his new odour (just kidding) he has some insight into what happens to our 'normal' rubbish after it is collected by the rubbish truck each week.

Upon taking our rubbish from our wheelie bins it goes to a transfer station where our rubbish is sorted. Seriously! I just didn't think that would ever happen. All the stuff that goes into our bins I thought that it would all be taken immediately to a large hole in the ground, compacted and then covered over. But no! It is sorted into products that can be reclaimed, recycled, composted, etc. I find this amazing!

The moral of the story is thus, don't tie up the plastic bags you put your household waste before you place them into your wheelie bins! Why you ask? This is because if your garbage bag is tied, then the products in the plastic bag are generally less likely to be sorted into their appropriate waste streams (recycling, reclaiming, composting or landfill) and just end up going straight to that landfill stream. So if you leave your bags untied the contents can escape and be appropriately sorted. Pin It

Wrapping paper - reuse

Over the weekend I went to a friend's baby shower which was a lot of fun. Food, friends, a few silly party games and of course presents for the Mum-to-be! So, you may be thinking what aspect of a baby shower could she possibly relate to the environment or think of ways to reduce consumption, etc?

Perhaps it isn't the most obvious thing, but I asked whether I could have all the wrapping paper that was hurriedly being piled into garbage bags ready for dumping into the closest wheelie bin! Next question, perhaps logically, is what on earth am I planning on doing with a large pile of crumpled used wrapping paper. Well the bits that I can salvage I will re-use for other people's present, but my main motivation for asking is to cut the paper up either into shapes or cut out pictures from the paper and give it to my daughter (toddler) for either a collage type activity or just for her to do with as she pleases.

So perhaps you can think about your next event and see what things can either be re-used (that is incorporate some of your old things into the event rather than going out and buying purpose built products) or what things that would traditionally chucked out after the event could be re-used for any number of activities or purposes. I would love to hear some of the suggestions. Pin It

Things around Spring Hill

I saw the following things in Spring Hill, Brisbane, which made me think about the environment either in the sense of nature reclaiming land over man-made objects or how man has made old technologies more environmentally friendly. See below.



I thought this was pretty cool - the grass emerging through the pavement in search of light and the opportunity to survive.



This one being an old street lamp shade, which 'modern man' has added the energy smart light bulb to. I think it is a nice touch that Council has retained the old light fittings. This just adds to the area's charm, with many of the old heritage listed homes still standing, albeit some of them renovated to more modern standards. The light bulb is a nice compromise between modern 'necessities' and heritage values. Pin It